Success Leaves Clues…(Or How To Kick Butt In 2012!)

I understand not everyone has a massive fitness or weight loss goal they want to accomplish, and just like to train to keep in shape, stay active, be healthy and stay on top of things.

But a lot of people I speak to do have quite big goals and would love to see some big changes.

For those of you who do have a fitness or weight loss goal you want to achieve, one of the most overlooked aspects of success is your attitude, or mindset.

No matter how many tips on exercise and diet we give you, if you have a negative attitude, a bad self image or self sabotaging behaviours then you’re going to find things very difficult.

The truth is if you were to start out on a fat loss or fitness quest, you had no idea how to exercise or what to eat and the only thing you had was a good attitude, I’d say you’re very likely to succeed.

Anyone can learn how to exercise properly

Anyone can learn how to eat right for their goals

The information or ‘how to’ is very accessible once you sort the reality from the nonsense (especially with a good attitude)

But without the right attitude you’re likely to:

– Give up when you hit your first hurdle or when things aren’t so smooth
– Not commit or give it 100% because you’re doubting everything, (including yourself)
– Not push yourself hard enough or get out of your comfort zone when exercising
– Find a reason to cancel training sessions too often
– Be impatient and expect unrealistic results too quickly
– Blame your circumstances because it’s ‘too hard for you’
– Blame external factors or other people for making it too hard
– Give in to temptations and stray from your healthy eating or exercise plan
– Believe that you’ve been cursed with ‘bad genetics’
– Forever think of yourself as ‘the fat girl or guy’ (these beliefs will subconsciously sabotage your efforts sooner or later because deep down that’s who you think you are)

And I guarantee that if you think some of the above applies to you, you weren’t always that way, somewhere along the way you learnt to think like that.

I mean, think about it, once upon a time you were a baby and you couldn’t even walk or talk! At some point you literally taught yourself how to walk and talk from scratch…sounds stupid but it’s true.

Do you know how many times you failed, fell on your butt, hit your head and totally stuffed up whilst learning how to walk?…Hundreds?…Thousands?…

But this didn’t deter you one bit.., you just got straight back up and kept trying because you hadn’t yet developed any negative, self limiting beliefs, and you REALLY wanted to walk so through hard work, persistency, lots of practice and a good attitude you eventually got there.

But now you think it’s impossible to get up earlier every day and prepare yourself a healthy breakfast?…Or do some intervals when you get home from work?…or ditch the bread, pasta & alcohol that’s keeping you from losing weight and being happy with your body?. WHAT? Sounds a bit silly doesn’t it after what you’ve already accomplished? …

So, after falling over thousands of times, and even giving himself a hernia and a busted up nose in the process, my little boy Cooper has finally taught himself how to walk! (and he knows how to eat a good healthy breakfast too)

On the other hand, people who are successful in achieving their weight loss goals (or any goals for that matter) typically display the same sort of attitude and characteristics.

Successful people leave clues for the rest of us…

And it’s no coincidence that people who do succeed in what they set out to do:

– Have a positive attitude & expect to succeed
– Have a burning desire to achieve their goal
– Work hard to get what they want
– Take full responsibility for their own results and blame no one else or outside circumstances
– Understand they can control their own circumstances, their environment and experiences
– Hit a hurdle, learn from it, and find a way to get around it or fix it to get back on track
– Get help from others to get to where they want to go quicker and easier
– Do whatever it takes to achieve their goal – no matter what, until they do.
– Are persistent, knowing that doing the right thing over time will eventually pay off.
– Constantly try and improve what they’re doing – even if its just by 1%
– Take massive action on what they know they should be doing, without waiting and procrastinating for a ‘better time’
– Just Do It (yes, Nike is on to something there)

So, it stands to reason that if you want to be successful at anything (in this case its improving fitness, health, losing body fat, toning up, getting stronger, becoming more flexible etc) then these are the characteristics you need to adopt which will get you there.

So have a great attitude & mindset, mix it in with a bit of hard work and discipline, don’t get bogged down with negativity, genuinely believe in yourself, and constantly look for ways to improve or do better, and you’re guaranteed to kick butt in 2012!